Intuition is seductive. No matter how often it disappoints us or leads us astray, we always seem to return to it with open arms. Then it betrays us again. And again.

In a session this morning at the Selling Online Subscriptions Summit, Flint McGlaughlin demonstrated the fallibility of marketing intuition with three recent case studies. Before presenting the results from our optimization tests, he asked the audience to pick the winners. Each time, the majority of the crowd selected the page that underperformed. In one example, only two attendees chose the page that improved results.

This isn't meant to embarrass this group of marketers. On the contrary, these are seasoned, savvy professionals who know the Web and their industries. It simply reaffirms what MarketingExperiments has found time and again with optimization: more often than not, intuition is wrong.

That's why we test, get results, and test again, ad infinitum. This basic but essential mantra is what gets the double-digit gains we saw in the three case studies (see them here: one, two, three). It also keeps our learning process on track when control pages outperform certain changes, or a good idea falls through the cracks.

We should be learning constantly, from our successes as well as our mistakes. That's one of the best ways to train ourselves to outsmart our marketing intuition.

Next week, I'll be blogging from the Selling Online Subscriptions Summit 2008 in New York.

This year's event will cover several topics, including: offer strategies, building subscriber bases through segmentation and usability, re-purposing content, and proven ideas for getting paid in a slow economy.

Please email me or comment on this post with your questions about online subscriptions. I'll try to get answers from our Summit speakers and attendees, and post the best Q&A of the bunch throughout the week.

And look for us to continue the theme this summer with a MarketingExperiments Web Clinic on optimizing subscription paths.

Those who regularly attend our Webinars and read our briefs might enjoy seeing pictures of the talented team behind the voices and the research. These pictures were taken last month at the MarketingSherpa email summit in Miami.

MECLABS CEO Dr. Flint McGlaughlin taught the MarketingExperiments Email Marketing Certification Course to over 400 attendees:

MarketingExperiments directors Aaron Rosenthal (left), and Jimmy Ellis helped a long line of attendees with live Landing Page optimization recommendations when they weren't helping Dr. McGlaughlin teach the one-day version of our Email Marketing Certification Course:

Bob Kemper, our director of sciences, helps research, write, edit, verify, clarify, and present our Webinars. Bob was an integral part of the team preparing and teaching the course. Bob is sitting closest to the camera in this shot of Dr. McGlaughlin. Seated to the right of Bob are Jimmy and Aaron:

You can learn more about or register for the online version of the Email Marketing Certification Course by clicking on the link.

After our Feb. 20th Webinar where we optimized five Landing Pages submitted by our subscribers (you can read the journal brief here), we got several suggestions like this for future topics: “Linking emails to Landing Pages. What you should have on the email but not on the Landing Page, and vice versa.”

We really appreciate the feedback, so I’m happy to tell you that on Monday, March 17th (St. Patrick’s Day) our subscribers will get a special journal brief entitled “Email Optimization: How Relevance Lifts Conversion.”

I don’t want to give it all away here, but it does make some specific recommendations about how to synchronize emails and Landing Pages.

We’re also planning to devote our entire April 16th Webinar to the subject of email optimization.

Meantime, please join us at our next free, one-hour Webinar on Wednesday, March 19th: “Improving Conversion by 162%: How to Overcome Value Inhibitors.” Dr. McGlaughlin will be reviewing case studies where specific design elements led to exceptional conversion and revenue increases. You can register for that free clinic here.

For the past two years, this blog has featured several contributors and a variety of voices. And in the months ahead, we’ll be doing even more -- with the blog, our Research Briefs, and our Web Clinics.

You already know the Marketing Experiments mission: To discover what really works. But we can’t do that alone. Our readers and research partners are vital to the equation, so we welcome your feedback and insights. Tell us what topics you want to hear more about. What new initiatives are you exploring? How can we make our Web Clinics and Research Briefs more valuable to you? What topics are falling off your radar?

To paraphrase this blog’s very first post, what sets us apart from hundreds of other Web marketing blogs is our foundation in original research, testing, and results. We’re seeing a dramatic increase in demand from marketers like you who are moving beyond outdated marketing methods based on intuition and the status quo. As a result, we’re striving to make more of our unique, data-driven information available in the formats you want.

Two years ago (as the editor and founding blogger for another Internet marketing publication), I had great respect for the quality of information Marketing Experiments brought to the industry. Today, as the new Managing Editor of MarketingExperiments journal, I invite you to share your suggestions and questions with me at editor@marketingexperiments.com – and let’s help each other take everything we do to the next level.

Regards,

Hunter Boyle

Managing Editor
MarketingExperiments journal

As I said in my last blog, while researching MarketingExperiments’ Web clinic, “2008 Internet Marketing Strategy: Are You Prepared?” I accumulated many “fun facts” about Internet marketing in 2007 that didn’t make it into the final deck but that I’d still like to share in this less formal forum.

Examined in part or in sum, dots may be connected and insights may emerge. I promised to share them with you this week. Here’s the next group:

• “Understanding their customers better” was the #1 2008 New Year’s Resolution of 82 marketing executives surveyed by Next Level Strategic Marketing Group.

• Marketing basics will be of greatest importance in 2008 according to 607 marketers (VP and higher) recently surveyed by Anderson Analytics, 60% rating it “very important.”

Marketing basics includes “customer satisfaction, customer retention, segmentation, brand loyalty, and ROI.”

The other 9 of the top 10?

2. SEO
3. Personalization
4. Green Marketing
5. Multicultural/ethnic issues
6. Breakdown of Old Media
7. Innovative Branding
8. Viral/Word of Mouth (WOM)
9. New Media
10. Time Starvation

• 84% of Millennials text message on their cell phones compared with 57% of all consumers.

Source: Deloitte 2007 “State of the Media Democracy Survey." 2,200 U.S. consumers, broken down by generation: Millennials (ages 13-24), Generation X or “Xers” (25-41), Baby Boomers (42-60) and Matures (61-75).

While researching last week’s MarketingExperiments’ Web clinic, “2008 Internet Marketing Strategy: Are You Prepared?” I accumulated many “fun facts” about Internet marketing in 2007 that didn’t make it into the final deck but that I’d still like to share in this less formal forum. Examined in part or in sum, dots may be connected and insights may emerge. I plan to share several per posting this week.

Global Internet Statistics (Averages as of Nov. 2007)

Sessions/Visits per Person per Month: 34
Domains Visited per Person per Month: 70
Web Pages per Person per Month: 1,519
Page Views per Surfing Session: 44
PC Time Spent per Month: 32 hours
Time Spent During Surfing Session: 1 hour
Duration of a Web Page Viewed: 46 seconds

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings

Could you learn something from these companies? Top 10 online shopping destinations ranked by percent of “Very Satisfied” customer ratings:
Netflix.com 90.3%
NexTag.com 87.0%
Amazon.com 86.6%
Shopping.Yahoo.com 84.3%
Kohls.com 84.1%
BarnesandNoble.com 82.8%
HomeDepot.com 82.5%
CircuitCity.com 82.0%
eBay.com 80.5%
JCPenney.com 80.3%

Source: Nielsen Online

And how well are you executing the basics? A recent e-tailing group poll asked: “When visiting a merchant’s product page, how important are the following to selecting and ultimately purchasing a product?”

“Very Important”

Product overview 76%
Merchant’s guarantee 73%
Stock status/availability 69%
Quality of the image 67%
Customer service links 65%
Product specific information 63%
Long description 54%
Size chart 54%
Toll-free telephone number 54%
Ratings and reviews 53%

Source: the e-tailing group/ARS eCommerce LLC, August 2007

To gather insights for our next free Internet marketing Web clinic, I recently conducted a short poll of MarketingExperiments analysts and managers involved in our science and research activities. I got an excellent response rate (63%).

I asked what they thought the most significant research finding of MarketingExperiments testing was in 2007; what the most important Web clinic and brief produced was; and what the most significant changes in marketing technology or tactics were from a year ago.

I also asked them to rank marketing tactics for businesses in 2008, and asked which ones we should monitor and test in 2008.

We’ll cover their answers at our January 9th clinic, as well as what you should be evaluating and what steps you should be taking right now to get ahead in 2008.

We also want to hear more from you.

Which MarketingExperiments research brief helped you the most in 2007? What made the biggest difference to your business? What are you planning to do in 2008? What will be your next optimization challenge?

We’ll post your answers at the January 9th clinic.

Please have a happy and safe New Year's celebration, and we'll see you in 2008!

It’s amazing just how much data, just how many test findings we’ve packaged for our subscribers over the past year: 19 free Web clinics were produced, chock full of news everyone can use for Internet marketing —Web page optimization, PPC, search engine optimization, emails, and testing itself. The associated briefs we mail and archive on our site reflect thousands and thousands of hours of research work; all free, ready and at your service, 24/7.

I know of no other Internet marketing resource with so much tactical and strategic value offered to online businesses, so I would love to get your feedback on what you think was the most significant MarketingExperiments Web clinic you attended or briefing you read in the past year.

What helped you most in 2007?

What made the biggest difference to your business? How did it help you reach your goals for capturing leads, increasing conversion, increasing revenue per transaction, making your Web site more effective? We love numbers, so if you have some figures you can share, please do!

Please also tell us what you’re planning to do in 2008.

What will be your next challenge? Will you start a social network page? Create widgets? Expand into a mobile presence? Further refine your present site?

We also want to hear how we can help. This company is all about learning and improving. Let us know what you think we should do differently in 2008.

Our January 9th, 2008 Web clinic will incorporate your answers and share the thoughts of our own analysts and managers, so I hope you’ll join us again in the new year.